Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1887-08-17
Selecting Sheep,

henry OC6WarC says UnAU more MIS-
takes are made in choosing sheep than
in any other business in agriculture.
This is chiefly because Of our hot sum-
mer climate and the i'll adaptation
Of the most popular sheep for the ex-
cesslve heats Of our summers. Most
people like big things; big horses, big
COWS and big sheep, and the big stories
told of these are often delusive. Ger
tainly this is true OF the large English
breeds which have been quite profita-
bic IN their own country to the
breeders, who have found profitable
markets for their rams and lambs.
These sheep have heavy bodies, heavy,
loose, open feeces of long, coarse wool,
aud are excessively given to
making fat. To thrive they require
most liberal feeding upon fod-
der crop roots, grain, and oil cakes,
But when brought from the moist eli
mate of England, with the rape.
mangels, American corn, and cotton.
seed meal, and subjected to our ex-
cessive winter cold, the dry hay, and
spare living, the poor pasture, and the
intolerable summer heats, they fall
victims to all the ills which make
sheep San unhappy flock" And yet
thousands Offarmers are misled by the
pictures in agricultural papers to give
large prices for these sheep which are
whollyunfttedf for our climate andkeep
ing, except for the sole purpose of
crossing upon our more hardy ma
tives.
The Southern Cow Pea at the North.
In reply to several queries concerning
the Southern COW pea IN g. Northern
climate, better answer can hardly be
given than Prof. Goessmon's account
Of his experience as told before meet
ing Of New York farmers. Prof.
Goessmon experimental with two va
rieties Of seed from North Carolina
and found profitable results. The
crops, to begin with, produced large
amount OF forage, though did not pro-
duce seeds. He cultivated the peas in
drills, and the crop grew so dense that
nothing in the shape of seeds could
grow underneath it. AS g. seed exter-
minator he considers the cow-pea of
great Importance. In summing up it's
merits Prof. Goessmon says: 1t an
swers as q green manure and as fod-
der, and it improves the soil. 1t be-
longs to q class of plants, like the
clover and the green pea, which have
all one common character. They all
have large stem development;
some have q large foliage
and most have an unusually
extensive root system. Some of them
will send their roots sixteen feet
through the ground. The clover will
send it's roots six or eight feet. A
foliaceous plant of this character has
good influence on the farm working,
for the reason that it necessitates
good cultivation. Drill cultivation is
best for most of our leguminous
plants. The application of the culti-
vator pays, therefore, in the cultiva-
ton of the soil, loosening it, and pre-
pairing it for other purposes. A plant
of this kind sends into the ground
q root OF unusual extent; it does not
feed upon one stratum of soil, but it
goes down five or six feet and lives on
the subsoil; in fact, if the subsoil is
exhausted, no forage plant ofthat kind
will grow in it any longer, and that
land is in it's last stage and needs rem
ovation from the beginning. Such g.
crop has always, therefore, been the
last resource Of agriculture.